Film

The Winter's Tale

Name: The Winter's Tale
Genre: Romance, Drama, TV Movie
Released: 1981
Cast: Jeremy Kemp, Robert Stephens, Anna Calder-Marshall, Margaret Tyzack, David Burke

Drama

Jane Howell's 1981 adaptation of Shakespeare's strangest play—a vicious tragedy that shatters, then miraculously reassembles itself. Nearly three hours of jealousy, exile, and resurrection, filmed with the BBC's austere intelligence. For anyone ready to sit with grief and see what happens when forgiveness breaks through. Emotionally devastating and oddly life-affirming.

If you liked this

The Tempest1980

Howell directs this one too—her final Shakespeare film, equally assured and strange. A sorcerer on an island, shipwreck, and reconciliation through magic. Same philosophical depth about loss and time, but more overtly fantastical.

But The visual style is distinctly BBC-television baroque; if you find that dated or cramped, it won't change your mind here.

Cymbeline2014

Another late Shakespeare with a split narrative, impossible obstacles, and a wife wronged by masculine pride. Derek Jacobi leads an ensemble cast through betrayal and eventual healing. Less famous than it should be.

But The plot is genuinely convoluted; you'll need to follow closely or accept you'll miss threads.

All's Well That Ends Well1981

Ian Richardson and Celia Imrie in a comedy-drama about a woman pursuing the man she loves through deception and time. Similar arc of loss and eventual grace, but with more mischief and a lighter touch.

But Comedy with an edge can feel tonally uncertain; this one skitters between styles and not everyone lands with it.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Winter's Tale

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Synecdoche, New York2008

Both are about the impossible architecture of forgiveness—one through fairy tale, one through nightmare.

Charlie Kaufman's haunted masterpiece about a theatre director building an replica world inside a warehouse. Like The Winter's Tale inverted: instead of life becoming art and healing, art collapses into life and ruins it. Both obsess over time, loss, and whether we can repair what we've broken. The statue coming to life gets reimagined as the artist's terrible power to resurrect and destroy.

But Deliberately difficult, fractured in structure, and designed to make you sit with dread rather than resolve it cleanly. Many find it punishing rather than moving.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre1984

A play about shipwreck, separation, and miraculous reunion across decades. Influenced The Winter's Tale; watching them together shows how Shakespeare learned to make the impossible feel earned.

But The first half is genuinely rough—uneven writing that tests patience before the magic starts.

The Changeling1980

A girl raised by the wrong family discovers her origins and must choose between two worlds. Echoes Perdita's journey but through a supernatural lens. Beautifully crafted, genuinely unsettling.

But It's a ghost story; if you want emotional realism rather than gothic texture, this tilts the wrong way.

The Last Temptation of Christ1988

Scorsese's controversial account of faith tested through doubt and suffering. Not about reconciliation but about the weight of guilt and the possibility of grace. Equally committed to the spiritual and the visceral.

But Aggressively divisive and profane in a way that will alienate people on multiple sides of the issue.

Come and See1985

A boy's passage through horror and ruin in wartime Belarus. Unbearably intense and ultimately redemptive in ways that feel earned rather than sentimental. About witnessing devastation and surviving it.

But One of the harshest films ever made; the suffering is relentless and the image of the child's face will stay with you in ways you might not want.

A Tale of Two Cities1958

Resurrection, sacrifice, and the possibility of making amends across the chaos of revolution. Dickens' theme of resurrection translated to film. Dirk Bogarde as a man given a second chance.

But A decade-old film made in Britain with melodramatic earnestness; the acting style will feel artificial to modern eyes.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles1976

Both use extreme duration and formal precision to make the invisible visible—one through Shakespeare, one through radical cinema.

Chantal Akerman's three-hour portrait of a woman's routine: cooking, cleaning, sex work, all meticulously filmed in real time. Not a plot in any classical sense. But like The Winter's Tale, it's about time as the substance of the film itself—watching how lives are built in repetition and what happens when the pattern breaks.

But Deliberately static and formalist; it asks you to find drama in dailiness and duration. Most people find it boring. Most people are right.